Ebb and Flow
by PleasedAsPunch
Summary: Alternate ending to Doomsday.  Sort of fluff. What would happen if the Doctor found his way back?
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Doctor Who or any of that sort of thing.

**Ebb and Flow**

**Chapter 1**

So that was it. He was gone. Everything. The TARDIS, the ebb and flow of a limitless universe, the man she loved.

She had invested so much energy into loving that man and trying, like her life depended on it, not to show it. But now he was gone.

Sweetie?" she heard her mother say behind her, who had apparently closed the distance between them during her silent wallowing. Rose turned around, her face twisted and contorted almost unrecognizably in tears and anguish.

"Mum," she choked. "Mum, he's gone. He isn't coming back."

"I know." Of course she knew. She could see the look on the Doctor's face as the hologram dissipated into the cold air. It was the face of a man who knew the end, who knew finality, who, even if every Time-teeming fiber of his being protested against it, knew what could be and what would never be, and decided it would be even worse to fight it.

"Come here, love," she whispered again, bundling Rose in her arms in an attempt to steady her as her body wracked with sobs. They looked physically painful, those sobs.

Behind them, Pete was digging in his pockets and extracted a small, shiny mobile phone.

"Jacks," he said softly, not wanting to interrupt the moment between his wife and his, for all intents and purposes, daughter.

"Rose, sweetie, we should go."

"What? No!" Rose gasped. "No, no, no!" Her face was puffy and red and tear-stained.

"You said it yourself," her mother said, "He just isn't coming back."

"But I want to wait! Just the night. Just to see. Maybe…"

"Rose, he isn't coming."

"Mum, please! Just—just the night! Then we can g-go home."

Jackie looked at her daughter with a tragic face and seemed to think for a moment. Rose looked like she had aged years in a span of an hour. This wasn't the nineteen-year-old shop girl with a beaming smile and pink cheeks. This was a woman who had lost everything and felt it in her very bones.

"Alright. There isn't a place to stay for miles, though. We'll have to sleep in the car. Backseat might be crowded with you and Mickey…just tonight, Rose. We're going back as soon as the sun comes up."

Rose nodded, almost tersely. She remained standing on the beach as her mother walked with Pete backed to the car that Mickey was leaning against.

The night seemed to come quickly, the sky turning from a stale, northern gray to creamy blue and finally into black. The stars weren't visible under the thick, omnipresent cloud cover.

She sat on the sand, all the tears she was capable of squeezed out of her eyes. Now she cried silently, dryly. With her fingers she drew designs in the sand, swirls and lines and circles. Without realizing, she had drawn something that looked similar to the TARDIS, which she quickly erased with a brush of her hand.

The car was cramped and cold and sleep did not come easily. Her body ached from crying and she desperately wanted a cup of tea. But sure enough, after many hours of restlessness, as if her mind and body had given up on the effort of thinking and staying awake, she fell into sleep.

The next morning she awoke abruptly to the sound of knocking on the car window. There was no movement within the car; apparently the rest of them were soundly asleep enough to ignore it.

_It's probably a police officer_, she thought, _found us loitering on a beach_. _We'll have to go now_. She still hadn't opened her eyes, the color under her eyelids told her it was probably still mostly dark out, barely dawn.

The rapping on the window continued just by her ear, right next to her. _Funny_, she thought, _why aren't they knocking on Pete's window? He's in the driver's seat_.

She wrenched open her eyes, unwilling to face the reality of the day. She would have to leave the beach and the prospect of seeing the Doctor—

Seeing the Doctor. She turned her head to see who it was standing by her window.

Seeing the Doctor.

A skinny man was looking eagerly in her window. His hair, a delicious chocolate brown, looked particularly disheveled. The man was wearing a worn-looking blue suit and a large brown jacket.

"Doctor?" she almost screamed. "What? Oh, damn. Lovely. Now I'm seeing things. This's great. Mum'll have a right fit." She had begun muttering to herself.

He knocked on the window again, Mickey stirred, but remained asleep.

"Doctor?" mouthed, not wanting to wake the others.

The man nodded.

Well, if she was going to start having delusions, she may as well do it properly. She flipped the lock on the door, quietly pulled the handle, and crept out of the car.

"You were wearing the brown suit last time I saw you," she said cheerfully. "You had a brown suit on in the hologram. You'd think I'd remember you like that."

He snickered slightly, partly amused, and partly quite serious.

"Rose. Rose, it's really me."

"No, it's 'snot. But it's nice to see you all the same. You look kind of tired, Doctor."

"I am." He paused for a long moment, looking into her eyes. "But Rose, it's me. I'm here. It's taken me so long. I thought I'd never find you. B-but, but, I did."

"Well of course! You can do anything, you can," she said with a cheeky, crooked smile. "You're the Doctor."

"Yes! Rose! It's me…oh. You still don't believe I'm really here, do you?"

"No, I don't." She smiled a tragic sort of smile. She could cry later, she thought.

Then he smiled. It was a real, genuine, but exhausted smiled.

"I suppose I'll have to prove it to you, then."

Before she could sputter, "Huh?" he had grabbed her to him and cupped her head in his hands—and he kissed her.

_Wait_, she thought, _he's touching me. No, no, no. This is far too real. How…how is this happening? I can't—how?_ Her thoughts were jumbled and disconnected, each one tripping over the other. _He's _kissing _me_.

He was kissing her, and it felt amazing. Her lips responded as she pressed herself flush against him. His lips were wild, eager, desperate. His tongue pressed against her lips as she let it slip into her mouth. She'd either officially lost her marbles, or this was maybe, magically, impossibly real. It felt real.

She kissed him back, wanting to taste every bit of him. If she was dreaming, it was the best tasting dream she'd ever had. She wanted to touch him, to keep him here, right now, right in this moment of time. If he was real, then she wasn't going to let him get away. Not this time.

Before long, though, she had to take a breath. That was the longest and most intense kiss of her entire career.

"You're here," she breathed. "I'm not dreaming."

"You aren't."

"And…and you're really actually here? This isn't some kind of, I don't know, solidified holographic projection or something?"

He chuckled at her attempt at the scientific. It was a smart question though, a good question, the kind Rose always asked.

"Nope! It's me! Here in the flesh!"

She grinned wildly, catching her tongue between her teeth. He loved it when she did that. He loved her when she did that. He loved—

"I love you," he stated matter-of-factly.

The TARDIS had a broken Chameleon Circuit, he was the last Time Lord, he was rubbish at landing, and he loved Rose Tyler. Real, simple truths.

In an instant she was pressed against him again, not kissing, simply holding. She sobbed quietly into his coat with his arms wrapped around her, one hand on her back and the other stroking her hair.

"I thought—I thought I'd never get to do this. I thought you'd left me."

"I did leave you. But I couldn't do it. I tried living normally, I even had a new companion, Martha. Sweet girl. Fell in love with me, she did."

Rose raised a teasing eyebrow at that.

"Wait, Doctor," she said. She loved being able to say his name again to his face. She had only been without him for a matter of weeks, but she felt older than the Face of Boe.

"Hmm," he responded, his voice humming against her chest.

"How long has it been for you since this morning?"

"Blimey, that was this morning? I don't think you can give me a hard time any more about landing in the wrong time. But I'm a genius, I am."

"How long?" she asked again.

"Five years. Or, wellll five Earth years. And time's faster here anyway. It depends on how you count, really. Time's faster in this universe, not that it's perfectly adequate, nothing against this universe, no sir. Perfectly excellent univ—"

"Five years. That, that seems like it would be hard." After she said it she realized she may have been presumptuous. Maybe it wasn't so hard for him, superior Time Lord senses and that sort of thing.

"It was." They began walking on the beach, leaving her family and Mickey in the car to sleep. "Rose," he continued, lacing his fingers between hers, "Rose, they were the hardest years of my life. When I met you, I'd just witnessed the end of my planet and my people. I was a broken man. But I had you. Even though there was so much pain, I can't rightly say that I was unhappy. And then I'd lost you. All the happiness I'd had, all of it, was gone when you were. My mind retreated into old, dark thoughts, but there was something new and more alarming. May darkest thoughts were not about Gallifrey or the Time War. They were about you. I need you, Rose Tyler. I love you."

"How did you get back?" she asked simply. Her look was warm and curious.

"I'm not sure exactly. Time, well, Time is sort of wibbly wobbly. Everything is in Time, and within a universe, you can pop in an out at your leisure—I mean, if you're a Time Lord. Or you. But between them, you can't. And the rift was sealed off so I couldn't get to you. And you can't just rip space between universes without destroying the Fabric of Time and killing everyone. Except the Fabric of Time really isn't your average textile. And then I realized, after quite a lot of thinking, and a lot of realizing about a whole range of topics, that I should just think of Time as fabric. I mean, there's a reason it's called the Fabric of Time, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you can make things out of fabric. Like your t-shirt or your jumper. You can add things to fabric; it doesn't just need to be a spare scrap of…whatever you call a scrap of fabric."

"So what," she said with a smile, "you embroidered yourself back into my timeline? "

He looked at her with shock. Rose, brilliant Rose, smart, beautiful, amazing Rose.

"That's exactly what I did."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes. Oh! I knew there was a reason I had you around! If you'd have been with me we'd have thought of it right away. Brilliant, you are."

She smiled again, showing her teeth.

"How do you just embroider yourself back here?"

"It took a long time to figure out how to do it. The TARDIS helped. I think she was just as determined to get me back to you as I was. But we got it eventually, just now, really. Kind of an accident. Woke up in the middle of the night with a configuration pattern in my head, decided to get up and punch it in, just to see. And it worked. Nearly spilled tea all over the console."

They'd walked quite a distance from the car. The sun was starting to come up in earnest, and they turned around to go back, but still walked slowly.

"How'd you know I'd still be here?"

"Didn't. Didn't know when or where exactly I'd end up. I was sort of aiming the dark. I did damn well, though. I was going to land here if I could, and then track you down manually. Maybe use the phone book. They have those in this universe? Or maybe the In-ter-net. Oh, the Internet, great invention. Human ingenuity at its finest."

Rose stopped walking.

"Doctor…you're not…you're not going to leave again, are you? Coz I don't think that I can do that again. If you're just here to say goodbye again…if you're just here to finish that sentence you started yesterday…I don't think I could take that."

She started crying anew, silent tears coursing down her cheeks.

"I'm not leaving. I spent five years looking for you. There was nothing I wanted more than to find you and tell you what I'd been trying to say before. I'm not going anywhere without you, Rose Tyler, by my side."

In the distance, they could see Jackie and Pete getting out of the car, shuffling around frantically. They'd noticed Rose was gone.

"Rose!" Jackie yelled.

"Mum, over here!" She grabbed the Doctor's hand tightly and walked quickly back to the car.

Jackie Tyler's eyes became large and her face red as a beet.

"What. The. Bloody. Hell. Are _you_ doing here?"

To be continued...

* * *

><p>Author's note: This is my first fanfiction ever! I'll try and write more very soon, but I have exams creeping up on me. :)<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"I'm back!" yelled the Doctor a bit too cheerfully considering the rage that pulsed behind Jackie's face.

"What d'you mean, 'you're back'? You just left! Forever!"

"Weellll…I messed with Time and Space a bit. You know, got out the old Sonic. So…I'm back."

Jackie looked at Rose incredulously.

"He's back, mum. It's hard to explain. He, uh…stitched himself back, so to speak."

For all her mother's rage, she was actually glad she'd reacted at all. She really wasn't imagining him. She felt warm inside all over again, but with an even more pleasant sense of finality.

Suddenly, Jackie launched herself at the Doctor batting at the lapels of his suit.

"You stupid alien! How could you do this to my Rose! Break her heart and run away, then come back like it was all for a lark! I ought to slap you silly. What're you on about, Doctor, expectin' my Rose to take you back after a scene like yesterday's?"

Pete had wisely stepped back a few paces while Mickey watched in shock from the back seat, window shamelessly rolled down.

"Take her back?" the Doctor sputtered.

"Don't be smart with me. I saw the way you looked at her yesterday. Oi! See, still holdin' her hand."

The Doctor looked down. Sure enough, his hand was still firmly in Rose's, who showed no sign of letting go.

"So I am."

Jackie softened her voice to something closer to normal. "You're as hot for her as an animal in heat."

"Mum!" Rose's face turned red and she covered her eyes with the hand that wasn't busy clutching his. _Did he really think of me that way?_ she thought. She felt odd picturing the Doctor, a Time Lord with the personality of a brooding but spastic child, feeling anything like _desire_ or _lust_.

"What? It's true," Jackie said rolling her eyes. There was a brief pause. "Where's that TARDIS thing you've got anyway? I don't see it."

"Ah, yes," replied the Doctor, relieved at the change in subject. He didn't think he was ready to admit to anyone yet, let alone Rose's _mother_, that her assessment of his feelings for Rose was rather quite accurate. "She's about a mile east. I had to walk a bit. I'd have taken the TARDIS exactly here, but considering my luck in getting here in the first place, I didn't want to risk accidentally popping back out the other side again."

They all heard a voice from behind.

"So I guess I'll ask it, if no one else will. Wha're we gonna do?" It was Mickey, still in the car, head peeking out of the window.

There was silence as the morning breeze touched their faces, the smell of salty water surrounding them.

"I'm goin' with the Doctor," Rose announced. She knew everyone was thinking it. She knew her mother would be angry and frustrated, _Hadn't he just dumped her here a few weeks before?_ She knew Jackie was thinking. She could hardly talk, in Rose's opinion, considering she had taken Pete back into her life so quickly. But he hadn't left Jackie, he'd technically died twenty years before.

Pete looked up at the Doctor when he didn't say anything. He knew that the Doctor wouldn't openly encourage Rose to come with him, not in front of Jackie—he'd be risking physical injury and the responsibility for breaking up a family. For the first time, Pete noticed that the Doctor looked aged, almost ancient, with the effort of keeping his face stoic.

"That is," continued Rose, turning to the Doctor, "if you still want me."

"It's what I came back for."

Rose smiled again and so did the Doctor.

"No, no, Time man! You're not takin' my daughter from me. Not again. Not this time. No. You either stay here or you can bugger off. Though I'd rather you didn't bugger off, considering the state of Rose these past few weeks."

Rose blushed. She'd been in a bad way. The first few days she'd stayed in bed and cried, wallowing in self-pity, but mostly hopelessly missing the Doctor. She'd never felt emotion impact her so physically. She was almost ashamed to admit how much her loss had affected her. Jackie had been a strong, single woman for Rose's entire life, and where did she get off going to pieces over a man she could never have? _But he wasn't just a man_, she had reminded herself. _This was different_.

"I can't stay here, Jackie. The TARDIS doesn't belong in this universe. She probably won't function properly here."

"Well, you can't have Rose."

"I don't want to take her from you." He sounded sad. He knew it was wrong to take Rose from her family. He hadn't gotten this far when he was planning his return to Rose. For having knowledge of all of the could-be's in the universe, he'd surely failed considering what he would do once he found her. Besides the obvious, that is: declare his limitless love for her; do a bit of groveling, perhaps, if the situation called for it; ask her to marry him, even though he thought that was a bit of silly considering the enormity of the other experiences they had together. Still, there was some primitive urge inside him to claim her as officially his.

And they wouldn't have forever. They would have her forever. But he would love her during every moment of that forever. He'd watch her live. They'd have adventures. She'd always be in danger, but they would be in danger together. She would get old and he would watch her deteriorate with age. But he'd made his decision long ago. He wanted it; he wanted it all.

Of course he wanted to take her from them; he'd be lying to himself and to everyone else if he didn't admit that. Well, he wanted to take her away to be with him, but he didn't want to rip her away from her family. _Why hadn't he thought this out before?_

Pete shuffled forward, slowly, but with purpose.

"We could come with you."

"Sorry?" asked the Doctor, almost bemusedly.

"We can come back with you. We're safe either place now, right? We'd be in the same universe as you and Rose."

"Pete, darling, do you realize what you're sayin'?" said Jackie.

"You have a life here, Pete, and entire life. You don't exist in that universe; you died twenty years ago. Jackie—I think you're declared dead. You too, Mickey," said the Doctor.

"Yeah, but we can make do. Right? I mean, you're a Time Lord…we don't necessarily have to go to Earth. We don't necessarily have to go to the same time."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" cried Jackie. "You expect me to live with medieval aliens?"

"Hmm…or in the Carboniferous Era. Though I don't think any of you'd really get on there."

"Shut it, Doctor."

"Well I'm stayin'," said Mickey. "It's nice here. I might be needed."

"You tell 'em, Mick!"

Mickey glowered at the Doctor, but then smirked slightly.

"So, then! Where to?" The Doctor looked between Jackie, Pete, and Rose almost manically.

"Wait, Mum," Rose muttered. Her grip had been steadily tightening on the Doctor's hand. "Mum, Pete, I think you should stay here."

"What, you don't want us?" her mother asked, raising a thoroughly penciled eyebrow.

"No, but Mum, the Doctor's right. You have a life here. You have a really, really good life. And you have each other. You have responsibilities. You can't just up and leave because you're daughter's movin' out."

"Sweetheart, you're not just movin' out. You're leavin' me forever. I won't see you again."

"Never say never, eh? We were surprised this time. I think the Doctor and I have proved to be a pretty formidable team in the past."

It was Jackie's turn to cry. Pete came up and wrapped an arm around her and rubbed her shoulder.

"Rose, you can't leave me for good. You're my girl." She was openly sobbing. Mickey rolled up the car window to afford her a small piece of privacy.

Rose let go of the Doctor's hand and walked up to her mother. He was surprised to feel the warmth of her hand leave his and the air hit his open palm and fingers. It wasn't pleasant. He hoped she would hurry up.

Jackie looked at her daughter and didn't see that silly but bright shop girl. She didn't see that broken woman she had seen just hours before. She saw a woman who had everything to gain by leaving; who had so much potential to live and feel passionately if she let her go. She had to admit that man standing just behind Rose loved her wildly. Maybe even loved her dangerously. But that was the kind of love that Rose deserved, and, she suspected, the only kind of love that Rose was capable of. And maybe, if the multiverse was feeling generous, she'd get to see her daughter again.

"I want to go with him. If you came with us you wouldn't be happy. You'd be happy to have me, but I wouldn't really be around that often, Mum. Pete loves you; you have him. You might let Mickey take my place, if he'll let you." Rose chuckled picturing Jackie trying to get Mickey to come over regularly for shepherd's pie—not that he wouldn't eat the food with gusto, but that she could picture Mickey becoming her mother's surrogate child with relative ease.

"I—" her mother gasped. "I'll miss you, Rose. So much."

"I'll miss you too, Mum. I love you. You're the best mum in the multiverse."

Jackie chuckled hysterically.

The Doctor stood watching this with the same stoic expression he had been maintaining for the past several minutes. He was taking Rose from her mother. He felt rotten, rancid that should be the cause of this choice. Rose shouldn't have to choose.

Rose turned around and looked at him, and as if she to read his thoughts said, "I'm not choosing. I belong with you. I think we both know that. I even think Mum might. This isn't a you or them thing; it's you and them, I'll just be with you."

"You're sure?" he said weakly. This was one of the few moments she had ever heard the Doctor speak weakly.

"There's nothin' to be sure about. I just know. You're my Doctor."

He grinned at her enormously, lines creasing around his eyes and showing more teeth than she'd ever seen.

She put her hand in his again, but this time, as they weaved their fingers together, she felt the cold, smooth lump of the TARDIS key.

To be continued.

Author's note: There's more to come! I'd love to hear your thoughts. I've got several ideas as to which direction to take this. Part of me wants to take it in the extremely sappy/satisfying direction; and part of me wants to write something beyond fluff. Maybe a bit of both. I'm feeling saucy. 3


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own Doctor Who, as per usual.

**Chapter 3: For Whichever Forever**

They decided to leave at the same time, just after the sun perched itself resolutely on the horizon. If they left simultaneously, then no one could change their minds.

Pete drove them all east, it was a short ride, until they reached the deep blue Police Call Box in the middle of sandy, reedy turf.

Rose beamed as she stared ahead.

_Home_, she thought, _I'm finally home_.

The Doctor, who had been sitting in the passenger side backseat next to Rose who sat in the middle, clicked open the car door just after Pete stopped the car.

"I don't think you should turn the car off when we get to the TARDIS, Pete. Keep it running. When Rose walks into the TARDIS, just go. Don't linger. It'll be hard for both Jackie and Rose," the Doctor had whispered to Pete before they had loaded up the car.

Rose gave Pete a hug and said, "You've been a good dad. I mean, for never having done it before, I can't say you were rubbish." She grinned at him.

Mickey was next and she kissed him lightly on the cheek. They didn't say anything to each other, but there was nothing left to say.

When Rose approached her mother, she gave her a long, charged hug, and hoped that it conveyed every ounce of love she could muster. She hoped it told her mother how much she appreciated late night nightmare interventions, kisses on scraped knees, and the gratitude she had for having such a strong woman as a mother.

"I love you, Mum. If we ever get the chance, we'll come to see you. But I can't promise anything. You'll do great here."

"Oh, Rose." Jackie held her daughter tighter and kissed her on the top of her head. "You love her hard, you hear, Time man?" She was glaring at the Doctor over Rose's shoulder. "I don't want to hear through the grape vine that you've dumped her again or that you let her get lost on some snotty planet."

"You mean like mucus or attitude? Because actually, there is a planet whose primary source of income is in the mucus production industry—they use it as mechanical lubricant all over their galaxy. But they're also really quite high and mighty about it; won't sell it to you unless you look like a worthy buyer. Not that I've ever tried."

Rose giggled slightly in her mother's embrace.

"I've gotta go, Mum. Take care of Mickey and Pete. I love you always."

"I love you, Rosie." At this, Pete shuffled Jackie and Mickey back into the car and all of the doors clicked closed.

"Would you like to do the honors, Rose?" asked the Doctor.

"Indeed I would." Rose stuck the key into the lock of the TARDIS and stepped inside. She heard the faint revving of an engine as her family's car drove away. They were gone.

The Doctor had slipped past Rose and was quickly flipping switches and pulling levers.

"Ah! Right! Here we go! Are you ready, Rose Tyler?"

Somehow, even though a part of her told her it was wrong, she couldn't be sad. The mad man whizzing around the console smiled endlessly at her, and the entire TARDIS seemed aglow with happiness.

"As ever!"

The TARDIS began to shake and tremble, screeching its usual loud but pleasant screech, and they left her prison universe.

"I'm going to take a shower," Rose announced the moment they popped, or rather, skidded out back into her old universe.

"Right. Good then. See you in a bit."

Rose smiled with her tongue between her teeth, turned on the spot, and walked in to the indefinite halls of the TARDIS.

_He hadn't even needed to grovel_, he thought. _Damn, he had really wanted to grovel a bit, just for fun._

_What would he do now? Burst into the loo and write "I love you for whichever forever you choose" in the steamed mirror? Did he wait for her to come back to the console room, make her a cup of tea and say, "Rose, I was being completely serious on the beach. I love you. I want you. Oh baby, oh baby."_

None of those would do. She deserved to be swept off her feet and given everything he ever had.

"But you've already given me everything. You gave me you."

The Doctor spun around on his feet to see Rose in her old pink sweatpants and a small white t-shirt which, he had to admit, made her breasts look exquisite. She had all her hair over one shoulder, squeezing out the water with a towel.

"I said that out loud, did I?"

"Oh, yes you did." Her hazel eyes were positively glowing.

"How…uh…how much exactly?" His voice became much higher as he ended his question.

"Just the bit about how, hmm, how did you put it, 'That I deserved to be swept off my feet and given everything you ever had.' That bit."

"Ah. Well. I meant it."

"You're bein' silly, Doctor. I wouldn't say no, though, if you were to _give_ me a cup of tea."

She closed some of the distance between them, until they were about a step apart. She kissed him on the nose, very gently.

"Mmmm," the Doctor moaned and pulled her closer. He wrapped his arms around the small of her back.

He looked at her face, her lovely, beautiful face. It would be in his mind forever, even after she died, even when he changed. He couldn't imagine a version of himself that didn't love this woman; it was such an innate part of him.

She was close enough that she laid her head on his chest and listened to his two hearts, which, she noticed, were beating fairly quickly.

"I'm going to kiss you now, Rose Tyler, if that's okay with you."

"Yes, ple—" she started to say, but was cut off before she could get it out. He started at her lips, nipped at them gently and playfully at first, but as she began to respond, his kiss deepened. He moved down and kissed her throat, feeling her wild pulse against his cheek and nose. He kissed there again, and migrated below her ear.

She wanted him on her lips again, and moved her head to the side to guide him back up.

"Doctor," she gasped, sounding like a damsel from a romance novel.

He pushed her up against the wall of the console room, and his hand began to work their way up her shirt. But his mind and hands stopped.

Not yet. No. He wasn't going to do this hastily against the wall while she was emotionally vulnerable. Later, whenever that was, if she still wanted it—really wanted it—he would give her everything, and he would take his time doing it.

She was gasping raggedly into his neck, planting loose, sweet kisses right where his pulse was throbbing.

"I wasn't joking, you know, when we were on the beach," he breathed.

"Hmm?" She sort of smiled that sound into his neck, and he could feel the vibration of it all over his body. He loved being this close to her.

"When I said," he paused. He was afraid to say it again. It was a truth so sharp he was afraid it might do damage. "When I said that I loved you. I meant it. I wasn't having a laugh or anything."

"Yeah, I know you do, you daft man."

"No, I mean I really love you. As in I want to be with you forever. Damn, how do I put this? This is going to sound so _hu_man. But you're brilliant, you humans. What I'm trying to say is that I love you in a more-than-friends kind of way. That doesn't sound right. That sounds too silly and insignificant."

She looked up at him with wide eyes.

"So I've been traveling the universe for a long time, yeah? Right. Of course you know that. You humans have this idea about 'soul mates'. Now, even though I'm 900-odd-years-old, and I've seen a lot—blimey, have I seen a lot— but I'm not sure exactly what soul mates are, if they're cosmically destined (which is a load of rubbish if you ask me) or if they're weaved together in time somehow (which I think might be a big part of it, really), or if it's just some irrevocable attachment between to living beings that the universe can't explain even to itself."

"Are you sayin' that you think I'm your soul mate, Doctor?"

"I think you are, Rose Tyler. And even if you aren't, even if the whole 'soul mate' theory is a wasted delusion, or if my soul mate is actually an Ood on the other side of the universe, I wouldn't trade you for anything. But especially not for an Ood. Bit slimy looking."

She shrunk into him, almost deflating. He began to panic, _what had he done wrong? Was that too much too fast? Maybe he should have let her get some sleep first._

While he was thinking this, she hand pushed gently off his chest, turned around, and ran back into the depths of the TARDIS.

He stared in panic for a moment. _Where's Rose?_ he thought, asking the TARDIS. As we walked down the hallways, the TARDIS altered the path that led him directly to the door of Rose's room, which he had kept completely in tact since the last time he had seen her.

_If she had come here_, he thought, _she probably wanted him to find her_. This made some of his panic subside, but he still braced himself as he knocked on the door.

"Rose?" he said, nudging the door open and walking in. She was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed in front of her and her head down so that her hair blocked the view of her face like a curtain.

"Rose, what did I do? What did I say? I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I've had this all pent up for years. It came out of me like a deluge. You know what they say, 'Après moi, le deluge.'"

"It 'snot you, Doctor. I'm—I'm—I'm just so afraid—" her voice was choked with panicky sobs. "I'm just so afraid to say it, Doctor. I'm afraid that if say it then you'll disappear again, just right in front of my eyes. And that this will have only been a dream worthy of a psychotic break, and you'll be gone. And I'll wake up in Jackie and Pete's house again. I'm just so afraid."

"Afraid to say what, Rose? You can tell me anything, you know that."

She mumbled something as if testing the waters.

"What? Sorry. Even my super Time Lord senses didn't pick that one up."

"—That I love you. So much." She closed her eyes, as if concentrating with all her might to will herself to stay on the TARDIS with the Doctor. She opened her eyes to take an experimental peek.

He was still there. Not only was he still there, he was beaming at her as if he was looking at the sun (or whatever star Gallifrey had had) for the first time.

"We're not going anywhere."

And then she launched herself at him, tackling him to the bed, and kissed him with such vehemence, that it was he who had to break first for air.

To be continued…

Author's note: I hope you enjoyed it. I tried to make this one a bit fluffier—just how I like it. My next entry might mix a little adventure in with the fluff. I'd love to know your thoughts, as always. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed/put this story on alert/ etc. It brightens my day.

Also, I'm considering doing chapters for this that are rated M, but I'd post them as separate stories because I'd like the story in general to remain at a T rating. The M chapters would be more like chapters that, if you so choose, you could insert into the main plotline without affecting it too much, just to get a taste of 10 and Rose's love life. But I haven't decided yet. Cheers!


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey all, a brief note. This chapter is really toeing the line between T and M, so just to be safe, I'm bumping the entire story up to M. Sorry! I hope you keep reading. I love writing it. I also realize this chapter is a bit shorter than the rest. The next one might be longer, and it might have a bit more angst, but don't worry, still full of good old fashion fluff!**

**Also, as per usual, I don't own Doctor Who.**

**Chapter 4: Impossible Sun**

He woke up the next morning with his limbs tangled between Rose's.

"Rose," he whispered. She was still sleeping and had her face buried in his chest, not that he was complaining, but it was making it very difficult for him to wake her up.

"My Rose," he said again, a bit louder. She groaned reluctantly into his chest, and he savored the vibration.

"Hmm?" she finally responded.

"I've had a brilliant idea."

"Could it wait until I've had a cup of coffee?" she finally said more clearly, pushing her body away from his and stretching her arms.

It was at this moment that he realized Rose wasn't wearing a shirt. Or a bra. Or anything, actually. She realized it too, flushed, and attempted to cover herself.

"Hey now, I won't have any of that." He kissed each breast gently and lovingly as he ran his index finger down the length of her spine.

She shivered.

"You know, I wouldn't exactly be, uh, put off or anything if you just decided not to wear a shirt ever. It has a lot of practicalities, really. Easier access, and um, well, they're divine to look at if you ask me. You know, speaking of divine, I think there might be a planet in the Mammillian Galaxy where breasts _are_ actually divine—"

"What's your brilliant idea, Doctor?" she asked, cutting him off as she slipped on a loose-fitting t-shirt.

He frowned at her chest being blocked from his view, but his face immediately brightened up at the mention of his brilliance.

"Oh, no. Now it's a surprise. I'd have told you if you would have kept your shirt off. But no. No, no, go take a shower and I'll make you some coffee and then I'll _show_ you my idea."

She squinted her eyes in a mock effort to look displeased with him. She jumped out of bed and walked to the shower. She wasn't wearing anything besides her over-sized t-shirt, and knowing the Doctor was taking in the view, she made an extra effort to flick her hips back and forth as she walked.

Rose jumped into the shower and let the hot water run over her. It had only been a little over 24 hours since her last shower, but it felt like ages between then and now. The bathroom was bright and white, an odd contrast to the rest of the TARDIS, and the atmosphere woke her up from her sleepiness.

Having sex with the Doctor had been wonderful. She wanted to call it "making love" but felt like that sounded pretty saccharin. It has also been a bit unexpected. Well, not completely unexpected. She would have been content with kissing him for most of the night until they both faded into sleep, but about ten minutes into their, uh, _session_, she felt something in her body that felt like desperate need for him. It felt like emotional lust and biological need at the same time. She'd never wanted it so badly in her life. No, that was the wrong phrasing. She'd never wanted anyone—him—so much in her life.

As she massaged the shampoo into her hair, his, because she didn't exactly have an arsenal of toiletries with her at the moment, she thought of how glad she was that the Doctor hadn't made their very_ impassioned_ activities an awkward topic the next morning. Considering how wont he was reign maladroit terror over their every adventure, he really seemed to be taking this all in stride, even with enjoyment.

She stepped out of the shower and began drying herself, remembering particularly nice touches and moments, when it occurred to her.

The Doctor she used to know would have rejected the intimate for fear of the domestic, thinking that the former would invariably lead to the latter if it became out of his control. That was what her Doctor had needed: control and emotional detachment. But he couldn't be emotionally detached. He had lost everything—his people and then her— and that was as emotionally attached as you could get. And he had been running from it.

For him to accept her with such easy, effortless love, he must have suffered something extreme. He must have lost every hope—been someplace so low that it brought him a sort of impossible sun, a hope so distant and faint that he almost didn't believe it could exist, but he ran after it anyway with every fiber of his being.

Now Rose understood. She understood the desperation underneath his kisses and his touch. She understood it, really, because it was the same as her own. Maybe she would tell him how much she understood, one day, because now they had some kind of forever, even if that forever had a mortal coil.

After slipping on a khaki A-line skirt that ended just above her knees, and struggling into a pink v-neck t-shirt, she skipped into the kitchen with her hair still damp and bouncing around her head.

"Ah! Rose Tyler rises from the dead, looking as pink and smiley as ever." He grinned and passed her a mug of coffee—with milk and two sugars, as she had always taken it.

"Thanks," she said, taking the mug and sitting down at the small kitchen table. "Wanna tell me what you've got planned for the day?"

"Hmm. No I do not."

"Well, then," she said getting up. "I'll just go open the door and look for myself." She wasn't actually going to do that, but she enjoyed the look of alarm on the Doctor's face before he realized that she was teasing.

"Just finish your coffee."

A few minutes later, after draining the last bit of her coffee more quickly than was comfortable or enjoyable, slipping on a pair of trainers that almost clashed with her outfit, and whipping her hair into a hasty bun, she joined the Doctor just by the TARDIS door.

"Ready?" he asked.

"As ever!" He held out his hand for her to hold, as they always did during their adventures. It was as if nothing had ever changed, except that everything thing had. He was still her Doctor and she was still his Rose, except that this time they were each mutually aware of how much they belonged to each other. Holding hands wasn't a symbol of reckless camaraderie—well, it still was a bit; they would always be reckless—it was necessary physical contact between lovers.

And then they stepped out of the TARDIS.

The streets were busy; they seemed to have walked just out of an alleyway onto a main street of some kind. A street whose name read Tottenham Court Road.

"London? You've taken me to _London_?" She wasn't trying to sound disappointed, but she had expected…not this.

"Not just any London!" he said, one hand holding hers and one is his pocket, surveying the street as if he was sizing up a ragtag group of circus performers, however exactly that is. "This, Rose Tyler, is London in 2006."

She scanned that over in her head for a moment. That was almost two years ago, for her. It hadn't been a particularly important year, besides the fact that she'd met the Doctor just before and she began travelling with him in earnest. Then it dawned on her.

"Do you smell that?" she smiled hugely, knowing exactly what he had planned. "Is that…is that chips? I want chips."

"Me too. And this time," he pulled out a tenner from his pocket, "I'm paying."

"I don't give you enough credit. You aren't such a bad date."

She turned to face him and threw her arms around his shoulders.

"I could kiss you here in front of everyone," she whispered into his ear. "Everyone would see you, a Time Lord, kissing a silly blonde girl in the middle of the street; would you like that?"

His first reaction was, _No, definitely not. Time Lords don't do that kind of thing. Especially not with an insanely beautiful woman who he loved to pieces._

His second reaction was, _Yes, please. I'm begging you. If you don't kiss me in two seconds, then you're going to wish you never teased me._

His answer was some form of the latter, but he was mumbling so quickly and incoherently that his exact words were incomprehensible. That didn't really matter, though, considering that it took Rose less than a second to dive in, quite literally face first, into a very long, very public kiss.

"I think this is how it should have gone last time we were here," she said finally when they separated. Several people were gawking at them. Apparently they had garnered a bit of an audience.

"I don't know, Rose Tyler. I'm not sure if you could have handled my intense sex appeal."

"Intense sex appeal? With that nose and those ears?"

He stared at her, appearing hurt.

"_Doctor_," she said, annunciating the word in a very patronizing way, "I was _joking_. Those ears looked great on you."

He looked down at her and smiled, holding her close to him and then…momentary and inexplicable terror that she would be taken from him. It was a dark flare of emotion he barely kept under control. It was panicked and furious and he gripped her tighter, wanting to kiss every inch of her, just to make sure that she was still there, still his Rose.

"You okay, Doctor? You looked a bit odd for a moment."

"Yeah, sure, everything lovely and wonderful! This universe is a wonderful place to be! Chips, eh?" he said, taking her hand again. It started to rain.

* * *

><p>Author's note: Thanks for reading. Your thoughts are always appreciated. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed.<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey all, this story is definitely rated M, just a heads up.**

**And I don't own Doctor Who.**

**Chapter 5: **_**Malus lupus**_

It was nighttime and things were dark. Rose's body was less than an inch from the Doctor's as she slept soundly on her stomach. The Doctor, lying on his back, was sweating, and a moment later, he was screaming.

Rose was roused from her sleep by the sound of the man sleeping next to her, her heart beating painfully and quickly behind her ribcage.

"Doctor!" she cried, attempting to wake him up. She smoothed her hand over his forehead and brushed his hair back, calming him like a small child. "Shh. Doctor. You're dreaming. It's okay. You're right here. I'm here."

He opened his eyes and saw Rose perched above him. Though she looked tired and concerned, he was pleased to see her whole and pink and with him. He sighed deeply.

"Oh, Rose. I'm so sorry." He was still breathing quickly. "I didn't mean to scare you. It was…blimey, I haven't had one of those dreams since you've been back."

Rose had been on the TARDIS for three months. They had been a very happy three months. She and the Doctor had proven very compatible—and very eager—bedfellows. They were beginning to fall into their own kind of domestic routine, not one that reeked of complaisance and boredom, but one that indicated genuine pleasure in the regularity of each other's company.

"What do you mean?" she asked. He could see her furrowed, concerned brows even through the darkness.

There was a reason he hadn't told Rose about his dreams. They had been horrible. They ranged in topic but always ended in the death of either Rose, himself, or both of them. He had to admit, though, that while the dreams of both of them dying where very terrible, they were less terrible than those when she died. The way that death occurred in his dreams had also been horrific. Often she just seemed to disintegrate into Time. One minute she was kissing him, or doing more than that, and the next minute she was falling away piece by piece, and there was nothing he could do to save her. His fingers would manically attempt to grasp her, but he would only touch air. Sometimes he dreamed that he hadn't been able to save her from the Bad Wolf, but the pain he felt from it was the pain of a man who had known her and loved her for years instead of the man he was then who had only known her and loved her for months.

"Just…when you were gone…I didn't fare too well psychologically. I'd had a lot of rough nights."

She frowned at this. She had been in a similar way. Her mother would often come into her room at night, as if she was a young child having night terrors. During the day she had chastised herself for reacting to such an extreme, but she couldn't control what her mind acted out during the night hours.

"You would just disappear," he continued. "And you would be gone. And it was as if shadows had been cast all around and ate you up, and you faded away. I would watch you. That was the worst part. I couldn't do anything about it. One minute you were a brilliant glow, and the next minute I was left staring at nothing."

"And you just had one of these dreams?"

He nodded.

"What happened?" She thought that he might not want to tell her; but she was not only quite curious—she saw something in the uncharacteristically helpless way he looked at her that it would be better if he did.

"Well," he began, "You were on top of me and we were having rela—"

"We were shagging? Alright. That doesn't sound so bad to me. Actually, it sounds like a good dream."

He ignored her attempt at humor. "Then you started to burn away. You know when you put a piece of paper into a fire, and it starts at the edges and makes them glow before the whole thing goes up in flames? It was like that."

Rose looked more concerned now.

"I tried to touch you again," he continued, "but all I grabbed was smoke. You didn't even scream. You didn't even seem to realize you had gone."

She lowered her self on top of his body, her breasts pushed up enticingly on his chest.

"I'd tell you that I'm not going anywhere, Doctor, but then you'd go to sleep again and have another of the same dream. I could show you, though, just how much I'm not going anywhere…"

Before he had time to protest or speak at all, she kissed him deeply. It wasn't the kind of kiss that indicated mutual affection or the punctuation to a romantic gesture. It was a kiss flooded with everything—with all of her pain, her love, the youth of her body, the age of her mind, the way he made her body react just by looking at her, the way he made her body react when he touched her, the faint but warm sensation of the Bad Wolf…

"Doctor," she whispered, "I'm going to touch you." She grinned at him, somewhat tragically, somewhat joyfully. She was going to make him feel; she was going to make him feel her. She would be his anchor in this universe or in any other if she could manage it.

She rocked against his body gently, starting easy. He moaned, savoring the sensation. She rocked harder.

"The dreams—always start—like this," he sputtered.

She leaned down on top of him, smothering his face with hers as she continued to rock. She moaned into his mouth.

"I promised you—forever." Their rhythm was reaching a fever pitch, when the Doctor opened his eyes to look at her. She was beautiful: soft, ivory, pink. His face flushed with his quickly mounting pleasure as he watched hers. He had never seen a creature so beautiful to behold. He was so close.

He began to feel warm, very, very warm. For an infinitesimal moment he thought that Rose had made it and he was just about to follow suit, when he realized that the warmth he felt was becoming far too hot; it was burning.

Rose's eyes were glowing gold.

He released her mouth, tasting the Bad Wolf on his tongue, a taste that he hadn't forgotten since the moment he kissed her all that time ago. His eyes grew wide and he sat up, holding Rose between his hands.

"I am the Bad Wolf. You are My Doctor," she proclaimed in a strong, deep, buzzing voice.

"Rose—how?"

"I have danced within the blood of Rose Tyler since we were joined. I am the Bad Wolf."

"Let her go! You've done this before and you can't do it again! You could kill her!" he cried.

"But I did not. You loved her. I see across all Time and Space, and that is what I see. Your love.

"I see inside you. I see you fear for her Forever. I see your pain through hers. It is the same pain.

"I linger in her veins. I live just behind her eyes. She cannot see me, but I am part of her. I am the Bad Wolf. We are the Bad Wolf.

"As long as I rest in her blood, in the shadow of her mind, she has your Forever. When she peered into the Vortex, she fused your Timelines, but she did not know what she did. You are the same. You have been the same. You have her Forever as she has yours."

Rose's eyes glowed even brighter and then the light went out, and she slumped sideways onto the bed.

"Rose! Oh, Rose! Can you hear me?" He shook her gently, attempting to rouse her.

"Doctor?" she asked, opening her eyes. "Doctor? That…that was…"

"Shhh. It's okay. Everything's fine."

"I was going to say more than _fine_." She smirked at him. "I was going to say that was the best we've ever done."

"Wait, you don't remember…"

"What? That you're a stud? Kind of hard to forget."

"Rose. You…you just…Bad Wolf came back. Can't you feel it? I can still taste it in my mouth. You're still shaking."

"Oh," she looked at her hands. They seemed to be vibrating, but it was dying down. "That wasn't just from a really excellent orgasm?"

He chuckled slightly, but his face quickly shadowed over.

"The Bad Wolf spoke through you again. It was terrifying. I thought you were going to die. But it just…let you go."

"What did it say?" she asked. Her brows furrowed, and she noticed tears had been streaming down her face and were beginning to dry.

"It said…it told me…you have my Forever."

"What?" she asked. "What do you mean?"

"It said that when you were the Bad Wolf, all those years ago, it became part of you. And it's still in you, lingering, somehow. Maybe it makes itself known under extreme duress or pleasure, or maybe it just knows when it's needed."

"Okay…" She maneuvered so that she was lying with her back against his chest.

"It said that when you were joined that you fused our Timelines."

There was a silence for a long, very pregnant moment.

"Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"You have to be honest, that _does_ sound like something I'd do, given the opportunity."

With this he burst out laughing.

"You're brilliant, you know that? Even when you've been possessed by the Time Vortex. I knew there was a reason I found you."

Rose turned around to kiss him. She found his lips and pressed gently.

"Mmm, I can sort of taste it on you. 'S a bit metallic."

Then she noticed that the Doctor wasn't really responding with the enthusiasm she had expected.

"You alright, Doctor? Like _I _should be askin' _you_. You didn't have the Bad Wolf coursing through your head."

"That's how I found you."

"What?"

He was starring off vaguely straight ahead, epiphany filling up and widening his eyes.

"That's how I was able to stitch myself back into your Timeline without causing any damage, because our Timeline is the same one! I didn't embroider myself onto your Timeline at all really, well, I did a bit, because I had to bring the TARDIS. I was just following our thread. I was on one end and you were on the other. I just had to shimmy through dimensions. _That's_ why it was so easy."

"So…so you and I…we're connected? In Time? And I did it?"

He gave her a huge, toothy, very Doctory smile. "Yes we are. And yes you did. Though, you could probably say we're connected even without the whole connected in Time bit."

For a moment, neither of them said anything. They listened to each other breathe and the steady beating of hearts.

"And about forever…I have yours?"

"According to the Bad Wolf, yes. I think I'd like to run some tests, but that can wait until morning. I can think of some better things to do tonight, for example, resuming where we were so _rudely_ interrupted."

"Does that make me a Time…Lady?" she asked, stopping the kisses that he had started trailing down her neck. He leaned back and took in her body, and placed his hand gently in between her breasts.

"Nope. Just one heart. Still human."

"But I'll live forever?"

"I think that it meant you'll live as long as I will, which is not forever. But it _is_ a very long time."

She laughed weakly. "Can you love me that long? I mean, what with us running all over the universe, who's to say you won't start chasing another…song?"

"You don't believe me when I say that I love you?"

"No…I believe you…but forever is a long time. I gave you mine; you have every part of me. It's just, I wasn't sure if you wanted me for that long too, even if you love me."

"Rose, I want you forever. I'll _need_ you as long as I exist. The day I met you changed the very makeup of my reality, whatever that is" he said, waving his hand around absent-mindedly. "Even though I didn't notice it until I was all in. I was a bit daft then."

"No you weren't. You were brilliant."

"I was, wasn't I?"

"Oh, shut it."

He laughed as she put her head on his chest and they both faded into sleep.

To be continued…

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><p>Author's Note: Thanks for reading. I'm feeling a couple more chapters more of this story. More if I become magically inspired. Reviews are always welcome!<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Now**

The walls were caving in behind them as they ran. And _damn_ were they running.

"How much further?" yelled Rose, narrowly missing a massive chunk of purple quartz tumbling from above her.

"Not too far…I think." The Doctor pulled her forward with his hand laced in her own, really hoping that the TARDIS was close. When they took off running from the Alloians, he'd just running in this particular direction, hoping, and pretty sure, that this was the direction of the blue box.

This mess had really ruined his plans.

In his head it had all been quite simple. He needed to go fetch a part on Alloi 2. They would go down together and she would look through the open market just a block from where he needed to go. He'd go in, fetch what he needed, meet Rose, get some chips if they had them, and head back to the TARDIS. Then the rest of the evening would go also according to his plans, which, to his credit, were very romantic, even for a Time Lord.

But things had not gone so…seamlessly. The Doctor failed to account for getting caught while he was fetching his part, because by "fetching" he really meant "stealing", though he considered the object his in right anyway. Unfortunately, the Alloians did not appreciate their planetary museum being stolen from in broad daylight by a skinny man with a light-up screwdriver.

"There! I see it!" Rose bellowed, pointing at the deep blue TARDIS, which was indeed but yards away.

"Go, go, go!" he yelled, wrenching open the door and pushing her in. The stomping of angry Alloians was growing behind them, shaking the ground beneath the TARDIS.

He quickly slipped in the door and slammed it behind him and proceeded directly to the console to get them out of dodge.

Rose was leaning against the center console, laughing wickedly. Her entire body shook with excitement and pleasure from their extremely close call.

"What did you do," she squeaked between laughs, "that would have set the entire police force to run us out of town?"

He looked all over the buttons and the levers and the switches, appearing to look with great concentration at his configurations.

"Eh, you know. Little of this, little of that. Might have told the salesman I wasn't a fan of his moustache."

"They weren't even mammalian!"

"Right. They weren't, were they? Well, you know me, must have said something to set them off."

"Uh huh," she said, looking at him with acute suspicion. "Well then, I think I'm gonna take a quick shower because I'm absolutely covered in dust and sweat. After I can make us some tea, how's that sound?"

"Mmmhmm," he said absent-mindedly. But then he crossed the room to her, just before she disappeared into the vast corridors of the TARDIS. "Rose," he whispered.

And then he was kissing her thoroughly. She kissed him back, not entirely aware of his spontaneous display of affection (which was the wrong word; the right word was gooey, deep, Time-Lord _love_, but she wasn't splitting hairs) was coming from, but enjoying it all the same.

"A quick shower, then," he said, releasing her and brushing his finger over her lips, which were beginning to swell from the intensity of the kiss. "And I'll make us some tea. It'll be ready when you get out."

She stood there for a brief moment as he walked away in the direction of the kitchen, staring at him. Months ago, the Doctor wouldn't have kissed her so spontaneously or intensely unless they were about to make love. Years ago, holding hands would have been more than enough, but painful, still, thinking she would never be able to have more.

Over the past months after her return to the TARDIS, her relationship with the Doctor had turned from one of desperate need to one of desperate need and sustained endearment. She could still feel him when she was in the library reading and he was fiddling with the controls. He could feel her when he was putting on some toast and she was blasting music and singing into her hairbrush. He could also hear her then, but that was beside the point.

Rose showered and slipped into a pair of jeans and t-shirt and walked into the kitchen. Her damp hair was tied into a pony tail and the ends dripped a bit onto the back of her shirt. Without looking up, she went to the cabinet to extract a package of Jaffa Cakes. They weren't her personal favorite, but the Doctor enjoyed them.

"I was going to do this better," said a voice from behind her, the Doctor of course.

"What, did you let the tea steep for too long? It's fine, I like it strong."

She turned around to look at him. His legs were kicked back and perched on the table and his chair leaned back onto two legs.

"When you tip over," she said, "I am going to laugh at you." She looked at him as she sat down, his gaze unnecessarily intense. "The tea's fine by the way."

"I had a whole plan. You were going to love it."

"A plan for what? Save Rose from living manikins. Befriend her. Travel with her. Lose her. Find her. Sweep her off her feet. Etc, etc?"

"Well, not exactly," he smirked, looking nervous. "Sort of more to do with the, how did you put it…the 'etc, etc.' part."

"Yeah?" She took a drink of her tea and eyed the Doctor curiously.

And then…_no way_, she thought. Her heart picked up double time.

* * *

><p>The Doctor had thought about this for a long time. A very long time. The first time he thought about it was when he saw a blonde girl in the basement of a department store. It was fleeting and barely registered. She was quite pretty.<p>

He thought about it again when he asked her to come with him, but he was just happy to have a friend, particularly one that smiled so often, and one with such pretty and profound eyes.

He thought about it when he slept. But those were dreams, which he often forgot about when he rose in the morning. She was becoming part of his vocabulary.

He thought about it whenever they ended up safely in the TARDIS, when he heard the hum and screeching of that beautiful machine. He thought about it when she absorbed the Time Vortex. He thought about it hard then, but he settled on kissing her.

He thought that he might stop thinking about it when he changed, but he didn't. He thought about it when he met Reinette, because she was so like Rose.

It didn't start really hurting until he thought about it as he watched her slip off the lever and disappear. And when he spoke to her on the beach, thinking his time was up, that he should have stopped thinking about it and just have done something long ago. That was when he knew that even though he was the smartest man living, he was the stupidest man alive.

Now he was thinking about it because, if he got it all right, he could _stop _thinking about it, which would be a relief.

He didn't want her to think this was silly, or petty, or inherently meaningless, considering the depth of their relationship already. Weren't they as good as? Why did they need anything else?

_They didn't_, he thought, _but he wanted to show her and know her this way too. Every way he could._

* * *

><p>"What d'you have there, Doctor?" She was looking at a slate gray metal box the size of pill bottle.<p>

"It's for you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. But I have question for you first."

"Ask away."

"Okay….but…I've never done this before. And I know this might be weird, but I don't think that I'm really going out on a limb too much, really, all things considered. And I also know that it's different on Earth and Gallifrey, but Gallifrey doesn't exist anymore, so that's not an issue. I'm not sure what this is worth to you, and this is probably the least romantic gesture you've ever gotten, but the point I'm trying to make is that I love you, forever. Always. And if you think it would suit you, because it would really suit me, in fact, it would suit me better even than that brown pinstripe one I have, and you know how good that one looks…but, right, would you marry me?"

In a very un-Doctory moment, he turned his head and avoided eye contact, suddenly finding the corner of the kitchen table to be extremely fascinating.

"You…really? You're serious? They do that on Gallifrey?"

"I'm very serious, Rose Tyler," he said. He deflated a little inside, what had he been expecting, a rapturous and instantaneous _Yes! _followed by a celebratory shag?

"Time Lords get married," he continued. "It's not quite the same as Earth. And it really isn't for the purposes of procreation. It's more like a life partner kind of arrangement. Some marry for love, others for companionship and friendship."

"And you're asking me to marry you for..."

"Love. Definitely love. Well, the other things too, but mostly love. Because you know, I love you, and all that."

"Right, then. Yes."

"Yes what?"

"Yes, I'll marry you."

"Oh! Oh, really? Yes?" The Doctor grinned wildly, his smile taking up his entire face. He unpropped his legs from the table, the feet of his chair hitting the floor with a sudden _thud_. "Then you'll be wanting this," he said, opening the box on the table.

He opened the gray box, its hinges creaking slightly. Inside was a shiny, silver looking ring, only the silver appeared to prism light. In the middle was a modest sized stone, both white and blue and purple at the same time.

"It's beautiful," she gasped. "What is it? Where did you get this?"

"It's a Regnbowe stone set in Gallifreyan silver. It prisms light because of the mineral content specific to that area of Gallifrey."

"Did you just have this in the TARDIS?" She wanted to ask if it had been his mother's or something like that, but she wanted him to tell her himself.

"No, I got it today."

"Oh? But it's from Gallifrey."

"Yes," he said through thin lips. "It's what I was getting on Alloi 2. It was in one of their museums. They did some looting in the past, not anymore, but back in the day they made a lot of profit from selling what they sold, or charging a pretty penny for people to come and see their rarer and more illustrious items, like this one. And I'm the last Time Lord, so I figure it's mine now, well, yours. So I took it back to give to you. And then they chased us down with very large, formidable weapons."

"You committed some alien variety of grand theft to get me an engagement ring?" Her eyes brightened. If she were on Earth saying this to anyone but the Doctor, she would probably have re-evaluated her choice in fiancé.

"Gallifrey doesn't do engagement rings or anything like that, but I know it's a human tradition, and I wanted to do it because it's one I like. I think it's kind of sweet." He thought it was one of the best things that Earth had produced, besides Rose Tyler.

"Will you put it on me?" she asked, blushing. That's how she'd seen it in the movies. And she was beginning to shake so much that she probably wouldn't have been able to put it on herself.

"I would be glad to, Miss Tyler." He paused. "The left ring finger, right? Oh, yes. I suppose that's why they call it the ring finger."

He slipped the ring onto her finger, which was trembling. When it was on, the silver shrunk around her finger, adjusting to it.

"That's the great thing about Gallifreyan silver: it can be bigger or smaller on the inside. It looks quite nice on you. Really, really, very nice."

She had been staring at her hand as he had held hers and slipped on the ring. Now his hand was perched under hers, holding it up so that they could both admire it. She looked up to the Doctor and saw that he was not looking the ring any longer, but looking at her with the intensity of what felt like a thousand Time Lords.

"Thank you," he said softly. "I didn't know if you wanted this, or if you ever would. Or if you would think it was stupid. I know a lot of humans choose not to get married in your generation."

"I don't think it's stupid. Nothing you do is stupid. I love it. I love all of this. I should thank you."

"Hmmm. Maybe our thanks are misplaced."

"What d'you mean?"

"I mean…there are probably _other_ ways that we could be expressing the same sentiment."

"Ah, yes. That sounds like a wonderful plan."

He pulled her out of her seat and pressed her up against the wall.

"You're wearing far too many clothes right now," he grunted.

She sighed slightly and released the clasp to her bra, giggling.

"Yes! Thank you. Much better."

He grinned again. It was a good night.

TBC…

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Reviews welcome! :)<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own Doctor Who!

**Chapter 7: Forward**

"But, getting to the point, when two people are, uh, in _love_," he said slowly, "as in a romantic capacity, their Timelines are sort of braided—eh, twisted together—like ours. For all intents and purposes, it's the same Timeline. Like rope, it's really just other smaller bits of rope twisted together so that it functions as one rope. That's how we are now. So on Gallifrey, a Cardinal of the Council would sort of halfway open the Time Vortex just enough so that it fused the Timelines together completely."

An hour earlier Rose had made the mistake of asking the Doctor how exactly Time Lords were married as a form of post-coital banter. She regretted that decision.

"So," she rushed out, finally able to get a word in edgewise, "we basically need the Time Vortex in order to get married?"

"Yes! Exactly!"

"And the Time Vortex knows what to do? It just kind of takes care of business?"

"I think so."

"Does it hurt?" she asked, wondering if she'd be able to feel her Timeline bombarding with the Doctor's.

"No! Not a bit. Well, I don't think so. We'll see!"

"Lovely. It's a good think that I love you so much, or I don't know if I'd do it!"

"Said like the woman I love."

"Doctor," she said, gathering up her sheets around her chest and sitting up in the bed, "I feel like we're missing something fairly critical here."

The Doctor too had sat up and was pulling down the sheet from under her arms muttering something that sounded like: _What did we discuss earlier, Miss Tyler?_ and then said, "We are?"

"I'm not trying to point out the obvious or poke any bruises…but where are we going to get access to the Time Vortex, what with Gallifrey gone…and the like?"

"Rose Tyler, I'm surprised at you!" He gave her a lot of mock frustration and crossed his arms over his chest like a stubborn child. She climbed over to him, sat on his lap, and wrapped her legs around his back.

"Are you, Doctor?" she said with a cocked eyebrow.

"Uh, uh…y-yes," he choked uneasily, his body beginning to respond to her very _advantageous_ position. "Y-you opened it before, remember?"

"Oh yes," she whispered, almost purring into his throat. "So much good came of that. It all went really well. I believe it ended with you dying right in front of me and changing your face. Not to mention, you know, Bad Wolf." Her voice, though it sounded like it should have been dripping with sarcasm, was instead fluid and seductive and it made the Doctor moan with anticipation.

"Won't—be—the same—this time," he grunted laboriously, his arousal growing as she nuzzled his neck and throat, grinding her hips against his through the sheets. "More control. I have—a funnel."

"A funnel?" She gave the Doctor a look of disbelief as she pushed away slightly to look at him in the eye.

He was breathing heavily, attempting to regain some composure. Eventually he nodded and pressed Rose against his chest again. She wasn't going to ask him to explain that—not yet.

"But we'll need a third operator, that's the only tricky bit."

"Hmm, I see. Can we work on that one later?" she whispered lightly and then tightened her legs around his waist. "Because I think there are other things you'd like to be doing right now, unless that's your Sonic Screwdriver I feel…"

"In a manner of speaking," he almost winced, the strain becoming unbearable, "it sort of is."

She chuckled quietly as he leaned her down on the bed and positioned himself over her. His mouth came down on hers, his hands gripping her arms gently over her head, pinning them down as her blond hair fanned out wildly on the bed below them.

"Doctor, now, please," she moaned. Before she had time to punctuate her request with a forward flick of her hips, they were together, moving together. The Doctor's hand tangled in her hair as they moved over and over, and she sighed, her pleasure building.

"Almost," he groaned eventually, their movement having become less and less in tandem. "You?"

"Yes. Oh!" she yelled softly into the Doctor's chest as he immediately followed suit. She gripped her fingers into his back as his entire body tensed and relaxed in a single moment.

"You are wonderful," he gasped, rolling over by her side.

"You're pretty amazing yourself, Doctor."

She breathed heavily for a few moments, enjoying the tingling sensation that radiated all over her body.

"This third operator," she asked, "would be for the TARDIS, right, for our…wedding? Not for, uh, other ventures, right?" She was on her back, propping herself up with her elbows.

He thought about that for a brief moment, when it clicked. "Rose! Yes it's for the wedding! Get your mind out of the gutter, Mrs. Doctor!"

"Mrs. Doctor?"

"Eh, we can work on that one, but later. As for the third operator," he continued, his heart rates returning to something close to normal, "for our _wedding_," he seemed to be having fun with that word, "yes, we'll need someone to monitor the Vortex after I've opened it, and then to close it after our Timelines have been fused. Who we'll get, though, I've yet to think of. Can't really get an Ood. Definitely not a Dalek; even if we managed to force one into compliance, they don't exactly have opposable thumbs. Can't work the TARDIS without opposable thumbs…really wouldn't want a Dalek to be feelin' up the old girl either. Euhh."

"Doctor?" said Rose, not really asking, but sounding like it. "I don't think we need a Dalek. I think…I think I know who we can get. It's almost perfect."

"Who?"

"Jack, of course." She sat up fully now, not bothering to cover herself. "Captain Jack! We could find him, Doctor, wherever he is. He knows his way around the TARDIS a fair bit. Oh, it's perfect!"

The Doctor looked at her in astonishment, because the idea was ingenious, not that he didn't expect it from her, but his brain was still pretty fuzzy coming fresh from their little jaunt, and he was a bit amazed that her brain, a human brain, was already so sharp.

"Rose, if you're going to talk about him, I think I'd actually prefer if you'd do so with a shirt on."

"You hypocrite!" she chided playfully. "You know, you should stop being so jealous. But I have to admit, you wear it pretty well."

He grimaced. "Well I can't help it if I don't like it when you yell other men's names with _those _dancing about so deliciously. It should be a crime."

"One man's name! And plus, you have nothing to worry about. We'd better not call him 'the third operator' to his face, though. He might get ideas. Speaking of—any idea where we'll find him?"

"I can have a bit of a sit down with the TARDIS. She might help. You might have to let her be the Maid of Honor, though."

Rose pulled herself up from the bed, stretched, and put on her dressing gown.

"Well, it's not like we'll have anyone else to do the job, plus, she'd be a great Maid of Honor. Not sure how she'll hold my dress while I wee, but that's just as well." She paused. "I'm hungry, d'you want waffles?"

"When don't I want waffles? Silly question."

* * *

><p>Over the next few weeks they searched almost relentlessly for Jack. Every clue was a false alarm. He had been there, but he wasn't there now.<p>

They'd checked space stations, hidden pockets of solar systems, and as many ship's brigs as they could sneak into.

Rose handed the Doctor a mug of tea.

"You know, we've been all around the Universe lookin' for Jack. He's probably right under our noses or something."

"Nah, don't think so," replied the Doctor. "He probably couldn't contain his sexual urges for that long. But—"

"Yeah?"

The Doctor held a wrench in his left hand with a sort of careless pensiveness. Rose knew they were getting a bit desperate once he started resorting to real tools.

"I can't believe we haven't thought of it! Oh, Rose, I should be ashamed of myself. I _am_ ashamed of myself." He attempted a face palm, but ended up smacking himself in the face with his wrench.

"Where haven't we looked?" he continued, rubbing his face.

"Uh, Candy Land?"

"Earth!"

"What? How?"

"It makes sense! That's around where we saw him last, right?"

"Have you seen him since I-" she searched for the right word, "disappeared for a bit?"

The Doctor winced at the mention of her long absence. It hurt to think of.

"No, I haven't. But he's bound to be somewhere around there. I can't believe we didn't look there!" The Doctor turned around on his heel, splashing tea everywhere, but continued to mutter to himself and to the console as he placed configurations and flipped switches.

Rose sighed and she felt the TARDIS jerk in the direction of Earth. Taking her tea, she turned into the vast system of corridors and to her room, where she opened the closet.

Considering the amount of time they had spent attempting to find Jack, she had had little time to consider wedding details. It seemed funny, thinking about things like flowers and ribbons and dresses while travelling through Space and Time.

Now that she thought about it, she didn't even know if she needed a bouquet or really, any of those things. Even though she knew the formalities of a Time Lord wedding, she didn't really know how it would go about. On the TARDIS? Surely that's where, because that's where the Vortex was. Maybe they could treat that part like other human couples might consider the courthouse part of an Earth wedding, before going onto a bigger ceremony with people and flowers and food.

But she didn't have any people to come to her wedding. All her friends in this universe thought she was dead, and Jackie and Pete and Mickey were trapped in another universe altogether. This made her sad, knowing that she would only share her wedding with the Doctor and Jack if they were lucky.

_This is what you signed up for_, she thought to herself. It's not that she was having second thoughts about anything, so much as realizing, finally, all that she had really lost. A tear escaped her eye, but she wiped it away quickly, and turned her attention again to the closet.

She had nothing to wear. Or at least nothing to wear to a wedding. Especially her own wedding. She'd raided the wardrobe on the TARDIS, and what she had found had either been profoundly dated or profoundly strange. When she did find something that sort of resembled a wedding dress, it had been bright orange, which wouldn't do.

She took a sip of her tea, leaned backwards onto the bed, and stared at the ceiling.

"Rose!" she heard from a distance. When his voice carried it sounded strangely similar to Julia Child. "Rose! We've arrived! Lace up your trainers and let's find Jack!"

When she pushed her body off the bed, she saw the Doctor standing in her doorframe.

"Come on, Rose! Let's go!" He smiled his crooked smile, but it caught when he saw her face. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing! You're right, allons-y!" She did her best impression of the Doctor.

"I don't think so, Rose Tyler. Tell me what's goin' on."

Realizing he wasn't going to let this go, she decided to answer.

"I—I've just been thinking about the wedding."

"Oh?" he said, and he looked worried. Did she still want to marry him? Did she think their age gap was too enormous? Was she afraid he wouldn't commit? _Because, dammit_, he thought, _he_ _sure as hell had no problem committing to Rose_.

"No no!" she replied hastily, seeing his panicked face. "It's just the details, if there are any, could be completely overwhelming. I have nothing to wear. What do brides wear on Gallifrey? Should I have flowers? There won't be a reception, so I don't have to worry about that. Where will the ceremony be? Can I wear my trainers?" She was momentarily disgusted with herself for harping on such silly, inane things, when she knew that in the end they paled in comparison to actually, finally marrying the Doctor, but she still thought they were somewhat valid points.

His smile perked up again in a sly and knowing way.

"Ah, yes. I have a secret plan for all that, don't you fret. As for the dress, you can wear whatever you want. You're beautiful in anything." Rose gave him a look that said, _You're such a corny bastard_, but he continued. "It's true! You could wear your yoga pants if you wanted. I do love those yoga pants. But if you're really set on a dress, I don't care if you stick with human tradition and go white, or if you chose a Gallifreyan style, which would be red. Indian brides on Earth wear red, so it's sort of a similar tradition."

Rose took a moment and absorbed his words.

"I was thinking white. I think mum would have liked me to get married in white." She twitched a bit the mention of her mother, and the Doctor noticed.

"I'm sorry she can't be here to see you get married. I should have asked you a long time ago." He took her into his arms. She was soft and warm and small, but so powerful and strong.

"After we find Jack," he continued, "we'll go wherever you want to find a dress."

"But you can't see it!"

"Silly human tradition!" he exclaimed. "But if you insist, take Jack."

"Oh, yeah, right. Good idea. And I've already got my trainers on, so I'm ready to go."

She grinned, took his hand, and they ran through the corridors of the TARDIS, and out the door.

TBC…

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Next up, the adventure to find Captain Jack Harkness! Reviews enjoyed immensely and always appreciated!<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own Doctor Who!

**Chapter 8: Blow Things Up**

"Well, that went _really_ well, Doctor. I mean, really, your _finest_ work." Captain Jack Harkness sat on a slim, cold metal bench that was mounted on a cinderblock wall. His elbows were perched on his thighs, and he moved a hand to remove the yellow sweatband from around his head. His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"Oi! Found you, didn't I? And honestly, if we didn't end up behind bars, it wouldn't be quite the same. There's something about a clever escape that really poeticizes the entire experience."

"So busting into a rave by exploding two walls was your plan? Wanted to make an entrance? Convince drug-addled college kids on spring break that they were going to die?"

Jack attempted to sound peeved, but he couldn't really manage it, especially since it had been quite funny. Most of the students had thought it was some special effect maneuvered by the club, and the music had continued to throb for a few moments before they'd realize that it was not, in fact, special effects, but someone had just blown up half of the building.

"The bouncers wouldn't let us in!"

"So you blew up a building!"

"Well…yes. We've got to make an entrance, you see. Plus, it wasn't my idea. It was Rose's."

Rose was leaning against the opposite wall, grinning slightly, as if holding back laughter.

"She's a brilliant one, my Rose."

Rose had been extraordinarily annoyed when the bouncers at the club had refused to let either of them in. In the past, she'd never been denied entrance when she'd gone out with friends. She was blond, pretty, and had a smile that could knock men to the floor. Their less than rave-worthy clothing may have been the reason for their rejection, but that hadn't stopped Rose from wanting to take drastic measures in making their entrance.

The Doctor and Jack's gaze darted over to Rose as she suddenly let out a wonderful peal of laughter. She bent over and clasped her stomach, laughing from her belly.

"Jack—I can't—I have to ask—why on Earth are you wearing—a hot pink bikini top and—denim cutoffs?"

The Doctor had been meaning to ask the same question, but had been a little distracted when the police had arrested the three of them and were working on charges of domestic terrorism.

Before Jack could answer, a police man in a blue uniform approached the barred cell door.

"Wanna make your phone calls?" he asked in an American accent that sounded vaguely stilted with something Hispanic.

They were sitting in a jail cell in a Miami Dade county prison. The police officer, looking less than pleased, but somehow fairly calm in front of three people the FBI would be interrogating to the full extent of their power within the next few hours, pointed at a sad-looking off-white telephone, the kind with a spiraled cord and a boxy receiver.

"No, I think we're fine," said the Doctor with nonchalance. "That is, I don't need to. You, Rose? Jack?"

He smiled at the two of them, knowing full well that none of them had anyone to call.

They shook their heads at the officer and the man shrugged slightly and walked back down the short hallway to his desk to make more phone calls.

"When exactly are we, Jack?" Rose asked.

"This is April 1985."

"And we ended up in America? Why are you in America? Why are you in blooming 1985? Weren't you in Cardiff last time I saw you? You know, sometime around 2006?"

"Well, yeah," said Jack, shrugging a bit uncomfortably. He was trying to keep his voice down. "I was working with Torchwood, running experiments, getting into trouble. You know, like I do. And then, somehow, one of my experiments worked, and I traveled through Time, and space apparently. But I didn't know it was going to work. It wasn't supposed to work. So I didn't know where or when I had ended up. So I've just kind of been waiting around a bit till you two showed up eventually."

"Did you ever think you might have to wait _decades_ for that?"

"Not a problem. Not aging, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Right. Weird."

Rose looked over at the Doctor, who had been oddly quiet. He had his back turned away from the hallway, and she heard the characteristic sounds of his Sonic Screwdriver.

"How didn't they take that from you?" she asked, shocked.

"I have some pretty good hidey-holes in this suit of mine. Don't think I can outsmart 20th century human law enforcement, Rose?"

She skipped over to him and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'd never doubt you for a moment. I just like it when you look a bit chagrinned. It's very becoming on you."

"Wait," said Jack suddenly.

They both eyed him curiously.

"You two are…together?"

The Doctor smiled broadly.

"Tell 'im, Rose," he said.

"Engaged!" She may have sounded giddier than she would have liked.

"Well thank God! It's about _time_. You could cut your sexual tension with a knife! It was unbearable! Especially when you wouldn't let me join in. Glad you two have gotten that sorted." He stopped. "Wait, engaged? Like there's going to be a wedding?"

"Indeed there is," said the Doctor, looking down at the Sonic, pressing buttons and looking at lights.

"And that's why you were looking for me? Because of my spotless reputation for commitment? Also, I hope you're going to use that thing to get us out of here." He pointed to the Sonic.

"No and yes, respectively," relied the Doctor. "We need you to work the Vortex when we open it for the Binding."

"Oh, right then," he said with feigned apathy. "Shouldn't be any sort of problem." He rolled his eyes at Rose, and she laughed.

"Ah, there we are!" the Doctor shouted, probably louder than he should have. "Right, you lot, when I count to three, follow me. And while you're at it, run for your lives."

He wiggled the Sonic at the jail cell door, looking like seizing symphony conductor, and the door clicked slightly.

"Alright, ready? Remember, run for it. And Jack, you may want to lose the heels. Okay. One, two, three!"

The Doctor wrenched open the door and began running towards the back of the building, presumably looking for a back exit, Rose and Jack close on his heels. They careened around a corner to hear the building alarm go off: the officer had alerted everyone of their escape.

"ARRRGH!" cried the Doctor at discovering a dead end. "This wasn't supposed to be here!"

"Do what we did last time!" yelled Rose. They heard the stomping of running feet. They had seconds.

Knowing it probably wasn't the wisest decision, but considering they were practically cornered, he aimed his Sonic Screwdriver and the wall in front of them exploded, much as it had at the club. Covered in dust, the three ex-prisoners sprinted out of the building and out onto the street. Seeing the large crowd of city people hustling through the city, they quickly lost themselves within it, and walked calmly, albeit quickly, in the direction of the TARDIS.

"Lovely, we're wanted terrorists," said Rose.

"Your idea!" the Doctor replied.

"Hey, no one was hurt!"

"I'm just saying. You've got to sleep in the bed you made."

Rose stuck out her tongue playfully.

They'd landed the TARDIS on South Beach between a bar that looked an awful lot like a club and a club that looked an awful lot like a strip joint. Still attempting to blend in and look inconspicuous, they unlocked the door and slipped in silently.

"Damn," said Jack. "I knew I hung out with you guys for a reason."

* * *

><p>Jack had exchanged his scanty rave attire for a pair of brown trousers, a blue shirt, and sturdy black boots that he found in the wardrobe of the TARDIS.<p>

"How long had you been…when you were?" Rose finished awkwardly as she slipped a grilled cheese onto a plate and handed it to Jack. It was her night to make dinner and she usually kept it simple, considering she was probably liable to burn down the TARDIS if she attempted anything too difficult.

"Fifteen years. I landed in the street in the middle of a Vietnam protest. I've never seen so many hippies in my life! Anyway, I've been sampling 20th century human culture ever since. Not much else to do."

"Wow."

"Yeah. It's been fun though. Disco, now that was something I could get behind."

Rose laughed and took a bite of her grilled cheese. The Doctor had already finished his and was working on a banana, but watched Jack carefully, as if he expected him to pounce on Rose at any moment.

"Can I help you, Doctor?" asked Jack, feeling the Doctor's eyes boring into him.

"Oh, no," he said, eyes widening and attempting innocence. "No, no, don't mind me."

"Really, Doctor," Rose said, scooting closer to him. "You look adorable when you're jealous, but there's nothing to be jealous about. No, don't give me that look." He had been making a look of stunned ignorance. She whispered into his ear, "Later, I'll show you how much you don't need to be jealous. You can make more things explode with your _other_ Sonic Screwdriver."

The Doctor's eyes widened again, this time in shock and pleasure, and he kissed her on the forehead and brushed her cheekbone with his thumb.

"You're amazing." He smiled and she smiled back at him, completely, and in Jack's opinion, sickeningly, smitten.

"Okay, enough!" said Jack. "Quit doing that if you aren't going to let me join in! Did you bring me here to torture me with sexual chemistry?"

"Did we?" Rose joked.

"Actually, Jack, Captain, we need you to be, well, sort of the officiant during the technical timey-wimey part of the wedding."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I've got to open the Time Vortex in the TARDIS a smidge, and I need you to monitor it to make sure it doesn't open too much while it's binding us, and then close it when it's finished."

"And I want you to be the best man!" said Rose. "I mean, if you didn't have anyone else in mind, Doctor."

"No, Jack would be a great best man. We don't do that on Gallifrey. What do best men do?"

"Uh," Rose started. "They bring the rings sometimes. And moral support, I guess?"

"Sounds a bit useless. But then, no one more perfect for that than Jack!"

"Hey now!" Jacked yelled.

"Just jokin' Jack. Ha! Did you hear that? 'Just jokin' Jack.'"

Jack rolled his eyes and pushed his chair away from the table.

"Jokin' Jack is going to call it a night. I'll leave you two to your…amorous endeavors."

Rose blushed slightly as Jack excused himself from the table and disappeared down the hallway to his room. When his footsteps died out, Rose launched herself onto the Doctor's lap and kissed him, plunging her tongue into his mouth. The Doctor responded with equal zeal, pushing plates off of the table and pressing her onto its surface.

"Have I ever mentioned," gasped the Doctor, "how sexy you are…when you insist on blowing something up?"

"Maybe once." Her breath caught. "But I don't remember. You can tell me again."

"Mmmm," he hummed into her mouth. "Arms up."

She put up her arms and he stripped off her t-shirt. She began to work on his buttons. They attempted remain kissing during these tasks, but it became clumsy and their teeth clacked together.

"Ouch!" yelled Rose, more alarmed than hurt. The Doctor shrugged off his shirt quickly and gripped both of his hands on her neck and head, anchoring her firmly so that he could kiss her deeply.

Rose reached behind her back and unclasped her bra, and threw it aside. She thought she heard it land in the sink. As if he had been waiting to pounce at that specific moment, the Doctor's right hand moved from behind her head, down her neck, and to her right breast, which he explored with the same enthusiasm he had as the first time she'd allowed him to see them, which, he remembered, was one of his most favorite days of his life.

She moaned, enjoying the warmth of his hands over her chest. She pulled him closer with one hand, and with the other she dragged her fingers through his messy, brown, perfect hair.

"Are you ready, Rose?" he asked desperately, urgently.

"Yes," she sighed, inhaling the scent of him through their connected mouths.

He broke their kiss so he could unbutton her jeans which he pulled them straight off and threw them behind him. He then set to work on his own trousers, which he removed quickly and kicked off in the direction of the refrigerator.

"Now," he said hungrily; he wasn't asking.

"Yes. Please."

He thrust into her and her spine curled upward. The table made an abrupt sliding sound as it lurched suddenly forward.

"Rose," he gasped. "So…beautiful."

She smiled into his neck and he felt her lips sliding slightly against his skin. He sped up.

They were heading for oblivion. It was coming hard and fast. Rose's toes curled and her back arched again, and the Doctor pressed her body to his chest as they finally broke forward, breathing hard and raggedly.

He rolled off of her so they were both lying on their backs on the kitchen table. She nudged herself closer and pulled them both gently off the table and onto the floor, where they laid in a heap.

"Out of every woman in Space and Time, you picked me. I don't know what you were thinkin', but I'm not complaining."

He furrowed is brow.

"I still cannot believe that the Universe let me have you, that you let me have you. But in the end I think the Universe knew I could only be happy with an adorable, incorrigible shrew."

"Hey!" she said crossly, but chuckled.

He leaned over and kissed her on the head as she kissed him on his throat. They didn't withdraw into their bedroom that evening for quite some time.

* * *

><p>Author's Note: I've got a couple more chapters to go. Then this one will be done. And then I will write a sequel. Please review!<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: Understatement of the Year**

The Doctor had a quizzical look on his face as he sat in his study of the TARDIS. He never spent time in his study. It was too quiet, too dark, too enclosed, and he thought it smelled faintly of pears, so he tried to limit the time he spent there to an absolute minimum.

The wonderful addition of Rose to his life also gave him reason to spend time out of his study, but Rose was, at the moment, not currently in the TARDIS, nor was Jack, and he found himself feeling quite alone.

He chuckled at himself at this thought. He had been alone for so long before Rose, and now that he was surrounded by friends, he found it difficult to fit into the old feeling of loneliness.

_It's just for the afternoon_, he thought, _get it together_.

He pressed the bridge of his black-framed spectacles to his face and made a slurping sound on the end of his pen, which had been perched on the edge of his lip in a sort of contemplative pose, but was now almost halfway in his mouth as the thought determinedly.

He looked at the paper he had in front of him, which was more now more black than its previous white, what with all the strikethroughs, scribbles, and doodles that ended up in the margins. In short, he had come up with absolutely nothing appropriate or productive.

Rose, I think I may have loved you since the moment I saw you in the basement of a department store. (He'd scribbled this out.)

Woman, you're damn fine and- (This too was crossed out thoroughly.)

I _know_ I loved you since the first moment I saw you. Always asked good questions, you did. Then finally, when I get to ask the most important one, you said "Yes". Thank you for saying "Yes". (He stared at these sentences for a moment but couldn't make any real decision.P

_These words might be fine for any other woman, but they weren't working for Rose_, he thought.

He grabbed a banana from the bunch beside him and began to peel it.

Rose was like a banana. She was perfect, for one, and also sort of yellow. Upon further reflection, however, he found the comparison to end there, considering she neither turned spotty after too long on the kitchen counter and she didn't come in bunches. She most definitely did not come in bunches.

Finishing the banana and disposing of the peel, he leaned forward towards the business of his vows once again. He wondered why they weren't coming easily. _Shouldn't they come so naturally that they almost write themselves?_

This thought worried him for a moment, fearing that somehow he was doing it wrong, but then he realized, for what was not the first time that day, that he was a Time Lord, and of course he was doing it right. He just needed some inspiration. With that thought, he instantly jumped out of his chair and flew out of the study in the direction the TARDIS's doors.

* * *

><p>"Try this one," Jack said, pointing at the corner of the store.<p>

"S'alright, I suppose. But it's a bit purple. Kind of wanted to go, well, white, really."

"Did you ask me to come with you because you thought I'd have good taste in dresses? Like your gay stylist?"

"No!" said Rose, laughing. "For one, I saw what you wore to that rave; you're the last person I'd ask to dress me if I could help it. B. you're not even gay. You're more, what? Omnisexual? Pansexual? Infinitely horny? And thirdly, someone has to make sure I don't wander off too far when we leave the TARDIS, and it certainly can't be the Doctor."

"Fine. Fair enough. What about that one?"

Rose was standing on a round elevated platform in the middle of a store filled with what seemed like infinite dresses of all colors. Some dresses were made of fabric, some were made of plants, and another, which was the most perplexing, was made up of several intricately arranged mirrors, so that there was really no material at all, but an illusion of bouncing light. She had decided not to wear that one.

Jack held up a short white number that was hanging on a rack behind Rose, when she whirled around to see it, the fabric of the dress she was trying (which was a heinous orange color that Jack insisted she try) swooshed loudly.

"I think it's a bit short."

A woman with deep blue skin came back into sight from a dense rack of dresses. She wore an oddly marked measuring tape around her neck, and looked slightly harassed.

"You said you wanted a human style dress? Right? Wedding? So you'll want white, yes..." she began muttering to her self.

"Yes. I was thinking below the knee but above the ankle. I'm open, really. And no sleeves. Or too much satin."

"Right, well, I'll see what I can go find in the back. We'll have something, I'm certain."

The woman finished taking Rose's measurements for the second time, apparently forgetting that she had taken them already before she tried on the orange dress.

After a moment, the woman returned with several dresses, all looking thoroughly human in style.

"You'll look lovely in this," the woman said, holding up a rather nondescript dress that looked like it had given up on trying sometime back in the 1970s.

Rose eyed the dress skeptically.

"Maybe something…more alive looking?" She didn't want to sound rude.

There was an abrupt crashing noise from the front of the store. Somebody had walked in and knocked over several mannequins in a chain reaction. The woman, already looking frazzled and overworked under her violently blue skin, sighed heavily, placed the dress back on the rack and walked to the front of the store to deal with the mess.

"Just don't wear anything at all," suggested Jack. "That'd be a nice surprise."

"Yeah, and _really_ tasteful."

They turned to see the woman approaching again, returned from the front of the store more quickly than they had expected.

"Whoever it was seems to have left, gotten away. One of the girls is taking care of the mess. On my way back, though, I did find this one. I forgot it was on display."

Rose's jaw dropped. The dress was spectacular.

* * *

><p>He hadn't meant to knock over the mannequin when he walked into the store. He hadn't meant to touch anything. He'd <em>meant<em> to walk in stealthily and remain unseen.

This hadn't worked out exactly as planned. But with quick thinking, however, he managed to hide himself underneath the skirt of a dress that was particularly enormous, where he found, much to his satisfaction, a fully functioning lounge room underneath its billows. He wouldn't have been surprised if it was stolen Time Lord technology, but he didn't think on it, and resumed his mission.

He lifted up the skirt of the dress just a bit and looked up to see the woman with blue skin surveying the damage.

"Psssst!" he sounded.

The woman looked down at the skinny man hiding under the ball gown and raised and accusatory eyebrow.

"Yeah, sorry about this. I'll pick it up. Do me a favor, would you?"

She looked at him archly but said nothing; he did not seem to be aware that he was in no position to ask favors, but he continued.

"That woman in there. The pretty blond one, she's with me_." Understatement of the year_, he thought. "I wanted to know if you could put this one on the rack-" Here the woman moved to cut him off, as if she'd finally realized she was having a chat with the man who practically destroyed her store.

"No, no, let her pay you for it still. Not exactly mine anyway. Borrowed it, you might say. Anyway," he extracted an entire white gown from one of the inner pockets of his coat, "forgot about this, I did, until just a few moments ago. Can't believe I still had it. Don't really know why I took it. But anyway, get her to try it on, eh?"

The woman gaped at him, clearly astonished as to how he managed to remove a wedding gown from his overcoat.

"Bigger on the inside," he said to her unspoken question, and he rolled back under the ball gown as punctuation on a conversation ended.

* * *

><p>The dress was beautiful, which, she thought, was probably the understatement of the year.<p>

Looking at it, it did seem to fall below the knee and above the ankle. Its material was rich and lacy without looking sweet and excessive, and around the waist was a thin sash of dark blue. _TARDIS blue_, she thought.

Jack, too, looked amazed at the dress.

"Yes," said Rose, eyes fixed on the blue sash. "I'll take that one."

* * *

><p>They returned to the TARDIS not long after, having paid a reasonable sum for the dress and noticing on the way out of the shop that the mannequins looked as though they had been rather hastily rearranged.<p>

"Doctor!" Rose yelled as she pushed the door open.

"Rose!" He took Rose into a full, two-armed hug and kissed her hard on her lips. Jack, carrying the dress, slipped off to deliver the parcel away from the Doctor's eyes.

"I was terribly bored while you were gone," he continued. "Next time I'm coming with you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." She smiled crookedly and kissed him again.

"Really, I'm not sure how I did it before. S'place is really empty when you aren't here."

"I promise I won't leave you behind again. But I had to, this time. Mum always said the groom shouldn't see the dress!"

"You got one then? A good one?" he asked, knowing full well which she probably picked.

"It's absolutely beautiful. Exactly what I was looking for. We were only there for an hour."

"A long hour it was. I wish I could have been there. It's supposed to be the best dress shop in the galaxy. I saw a dress that wasn't a dress but really a bunch of mirrors that bounced light! Amazing!"

"You _saw_ that dress?"

"What? No. I mean I've heard of it."

But Rose wasn't having any of it.

"That was you! You crashed all the mannequins in the front of the store!" She sounded half incredulous and half angry. "I told you to stay in the TARDIS! Why did you have to come spying on me! I wanted the dress to be a surprise!" Now she just sounded angry.

"I—I—I'm sorry. I was bored. And then I thought about you, naturally. When am I not thinking of you? Then I had an idea, and I rummaged around a bit…and went to the shop. I wasn't thinking."

"No, you were _thinking_ perfectly fine. That's what you do. You knew perfectly well what you were doing. What were you rummaging for?"

"What? Oh." He hadn't meant to say that. "Just…an old thing."

"The dress! You gave that dress to the woman! That's why the sash was TARDIS blue!" She looked a bit resentful.

Sometimes he was astounded at how perceptive she was. _Rose Tyler, always asking the right questions._

"It's very pretty though, isn't it? I knew you'd like it. Forgot I had it. Not that I go around carrying wedding dresses with me. That'd be a bit weird. Is that the one you picked?'

"Maybe," she muttered irritably.

"Well, that's great!" He said it in a higher pitched voice, treading lightly.

"Whose is it? One of your old companions?" Her face blanched. "It's not a dress from your wife on Gallifrey?"

"No, of course not. And I told you we weren't actually married anyway. We were never Bound."

"I'm not pleased with you right now," she said flatly.

"But you found a great dress! You're not going to take it back, are you?"

"No! Of course not, it's amazing. But I wish you'd have not taken such sly measures. Where's it from, anyway?"

He pulled her closer to him again; even though her body was a bit rigid, she did not protest.

"May have nicked it," he said looking away, pulling on his ear.

"You go around nickin' women's dresses?"

"Well…you know Marilyn Monroe? 'Course you do. Almost married her once, accidentally, of course. Think she had too much champagne. She decided last minute that getting married to me would not in fact do at all, and that she wanted to skinny-dip away her imminent hangover by herself. She sort of shed the dress right there. I thought I deserved a trophy for almost marrying Marilyn, it would have been a marvelous achievement—not that I would have!" he said when Rose gave him a shocked and scandalized look. "But just…stole it, I guess, and stored it away. And forgot about it. I don't think it was meant to be a wedding dress anyway. Looks a bit like one, though."

"You…seduced Marilyn Monroe?"

"No! She was drunk and she said she liked my trainers!"

Then Rose laughed, pushing her face into his chest. His body visibly relaxed.

"You'll forgive me?" he asked.

"Well, yes. What'd you expect? Most ludicrous story I've ever heard." She shook her head, smiling. She peered up at him. "Just no games next time."

"No games. I'm glad you're back."

* * *

><p>AN: One more chapter after this! I hope you've enjoyed reading. Please review!


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: This is the last chapter for this story. Thank you all who've been reading. This chapter was going to be a little bit more involved, but I decided to tailor it, thinking simpler is better. Reviews are welcome, as always, and should you leave a review, I'll actually respond; I feel bad for not having done so in the past. :)**

Chapter 10: Everything

"What's it like?" asked Rose, pulling up the sheet as she snuggled into the Doctor's chest.

"What's what like?" he said almost dreamily, stroking her hair and coaxing it behind her ear.

"You know, the Bonding."

"Ah. I don't actually know. I've never been Bonded before."

"It won't hurt, will it?" She tucked her chin into her chest and exhaled deeply.

"No, I don't think so. Don't think too many people'd do it, then. But I've heard it's fairly intense. Very personal. Though I'm not sure exactly what that means."

There was a moment of quiet. Rose turned around so that she was facing the Doctor as they lay on the bed. She kissed his chest, remembering the smell of him on that day when he came back. Everything had smelled so salty and tainted with want of hope. Now she smelled only his skin and the faint scent of the cotton sheets in which they were entwined. He smelled like the wood of the TARDIS, slightly of sweat, vaguely of the machinery below the console, and something else light-smelling but far more complicated, which she liked to think was the smell of Time, but it was probably just his shampoo.

"Mmm," she hummed, enjoying their closeness. They both closed their eyes and tightened slightly the grip they had upon each other, savoring the time alone without the constant shadow of Captain Jack Harkness.

"I never said 'thank you', you know," she said.

"You're thanking me? What on Gallifrey did I do to deserve that?"

He raised an eyebrow, but she didn't see; much of her face was buried in his chest.

"For coming back for me. For not stopping. For wanting me. For so many things. You saved me, you did."

He looked down at her, his eyes wide with surprise and wonder. Rose was always surprising him.

"Rose, I don't think I ever had a choice either way."

He took a deep breath. Usually he would get tangled over his words, say something irrelevant or absolutely wrong. This time, however, he knew exactly what he needed to say.

"I think, Rose, that I _had_ to come for you, because I need you. I want you too, more than anything in the Universe, but something in me knew that I needed you beyond attraction and fancy." He paused, fearing an onslaught of everything he wanted to say coming out in a deluge of nonsense.

"When I met you, when I had big ears, I think that the Universe made some kind of connection—like," he paused looking for the right words, "like it recognized two similar patterns, one in you and one in me, and it thought they should go together. Going well together made our patterns dependent on each other. It made me dependent on you and you on me. I don't know if this is true…I know a lot about the Universe, but I don't know everything—but don't tell Jack that—and I don't know why the Universe would care so much about two tiny individuals within the whole scope of Infiniti, unless, well, unless maybe pattern recognition like that is just an automatic involuntary process—you know, matching up like ends, connecting what needs to be connected. I think that was us, Rose. I think in us the Universe made a connection."

He looked down at her; she hadn't said a word the whole time, hadn't interrupted him to ask questions, as she would usually, which was very unlike her. She had let him have that entire monologue without interference.

Her breathing was steady and slow. And she was asleep.

"M'not 'sleep," she croaked. "Heard you. Love you."

He smiled and reached an arm to turn off the lamp.

* * *

><p>He was thinking about everything, but he usually thought about everything. This time, however, he was really, thoroughly thinking about everything, and it was completely overwhelming.<p>

Rose and the Doctor held hands near the console of the TARDIS. Their hands were grasped so tightly that they were both white-knuckled, but neither of them felt the pressure of the other.

The room had gone dark for a moment when he asked Jack to slam the left of the console with a small crowbar and then press the purple button that looked sort of like an over-sized jellybean.

In doing this, the Doctor had told Jack to open the Vortex. Rose had gasped, first at the loss of light, then the faint tingling sensation she felt between her and the Doctor's fingers. It felt like low-level static electricity that persisted and grew slowly, not so that it hurt, but so that it made itself gradually more known.

The lights came back up to their normal shadowy yellow-orange hue. But the tingling did not stop. Jack continued to look at the console and flicked a couple more switches when the Doctor nodded slightly in his direction.

Suddenly, but faintly, they were surrounded by pale white threads of light that seemed to grow out of their skin. Jack did not notice this development. He did not notice it because he could not see it.

She turned to the Doctor who had in turn turned to face her, and they joined both hands as they watched the pale threads cast themselves upwards, almost dancing. As their own threads moved closer to their counterparts, Rose's mind began to race quite involuntarily.

She thought of a chummy looking man in a leather jacket. She thought how adorable his dopey smile was. She thought about the first time she saw a Dalek and the look of hatred that became etched upon the Doctor's formerly friendly features. She thought of his intensity, the way he protected her. She thought of his warmth. Of his skin, the way it felt when she touched it when he wasn't expecting it, which seemed like all the time, as if he was still surprised that she was with him and that she wanted him. She thought of his regeneration and how he lost his old self, who he was really starting to like, and was instead skinny and tall and _not_ ginger. And he was rude. She thought of how rude he was and how he really must watch what he said because Rose was very pretty and the kindest person he had ever met and he thought, perhaps, if it wasn't something completely out of the question for a Time Lord, especially him, that he might even love Rose Tyler; so he should be sure not to burn any bridges with his thoughtless words.

She realized that the thoughts she was thinking were now not just her own.

The Doctor, too, was thinking of everything.

He thought of a lovely, pink, blond girl with a smile that made his knees weak, though he'd never actually admit it. He thought about how brave she was when they met a Dalek in Utah. He thought about when he considered telling her she made his knees weak, a fleeting consideration long ago, but had shrugged off such a notion, and opted instead for a kind of numb denial. He thought about humanity, _her_ humanity. He felt it. He felt the contrasts: love and hate, fear and pleasure. He felt her pain, her intensity, convoluted emotions that made his head spin. He felt her warmth, not just the sensation of her skin against his, but the warmth of her mind within his own. He felt the Bad Wolf lingering in the backmost, unchartered part of her mind; a light so dim it was almost out.

They opened their eyes to find the air bursting with streaks of light, the threads from their skin twining and pulling together, forcing themselves into a single strand.

While Jack could not see any of this, he clearly felt something in the air. His body shook slightly in a manner not dissimilar to an animal before a storm. He gazed back and forth between Rose and the Doctor and the console, waiting for the Doctor to tell him to use the crowbar and hit the console with all of his strength as he had instructed him to do earlier. Apparently the jellybean button would only open the Vortex, but not close it.

The Doctor was thinking of everything. So was Rose. The idea of wedding plans seemed so silly to her now. Choosing a dress, wondering who to invite, where they should go afterward on their _honeymoon_. She chuckled inwardly at the thought, and the Doctor, feeling it, chuckled too. How could she have bothered herself with picking the perfect dress, even though she did look lovely in it, or making sure the Doctor acquired and wore his usually slim-fitting suit—this time in black—and clean black trainers? It seemed very trivial now. None of those things mattered except for this moment.

Rose heard the Doctor thinking deliberately so that she could hear him in her mind clearly and distinctly.

_Rose Tyler_, he thought_, I love you, forever. You're exactly what I waited 900 years for. I promise to love you—all of you—forever_.

She smiled, tears running down her cheeks, and she too thought loudly, _I'll think myself the luckiest shop girl for as long as I live. You're everything. I'll need you and want you and I promise to love you forever._

With those words, tears streaming down both of their faces, the single thread that had formed above them from their many threads brightened violently and lit the entire room in a reddish-orange glow, then faded to pink, then purple, then blue, until the light faded back to white and extinguished itself. The Doctor nodded to Jack, who took the crowbar and landed it forcefully on the console. The Vortex closed.

The glow of the Doctor's mind remained in her own. While she could no long hear his thoughts, a prospect which would have been completely overwhelming should it have continued, she could still feel the presence of his mind. She could feel his feelings, while only slightly, and they felt like the most important force in the world. They were something to cling onto.

He too felt her, the warm presence of her mind near his. It was soothing and calming and perfect. He wanted to think of the planet he was going to take her to, of which for the life of him he could not recall the name; he wanted to think of the massive bouquet of sunflowers he had procured for her, because she hated roses. But he did not.

His mind was empty but for one thing for the first time in his entire life. Rose Tyler.

END


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